ROME -- Italy on Wednesday escalated its standoff with France over migration, challenging Paris to take in more asylum seekers and demanding an apology after the French president accused the Italian government of cynical, irresponsible behavior by refusing entry to a rescue ship with hundreds of migrants aboard.
Italy summoned the French ambassador for consultations, canceled a planned meeting between finance ministers and warned that diplomatic relations had been compromised. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini chided French President Emmanuel Macron by name during a speech before Parliament's upper chamber.
"I speak in the name of a government, but I also have the aim of speaking for a people who have nothing to learn from anyone about generosity, volunteerism, welcome and solidarity," Salvini said to applause in the Senate chamber.
Italy has faced criticism -- and praise from others -- for turning away the Aquarius rescue ship, which was stuck in the Mediterranean Sea for days with 629 migrants aboard. Italy argues that other European countries must step in and that the ship's passengers were never in danger.
Two Italian naval vessels are escorting the ship to Spain after the Socialist government of new Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez offered the Aquarius safe harbor.
The Aquarius and two Italian ships that have taken some of the migrants are now expected to arrive in Valencia on Saturday night, weather conditions permitting, said Sophie Beau, co-founder of the charity SOS Mediterranee, which operates the Aquarius. The port is about 930 miles from where the vessel had been on standby since Saturday night.
Lashing out at France, Salvini said it had taken in only a fraction of the 9,816 people it had pledged to welcome under a 2015 European Union relocation plan to relieve front-line countries Italy and Greece of the burden of caring for newly arrived migrants. The EU plan largely flopped, with only a handful of countries taking in their share. France took in 635, according to EU figures.
"So I ask President Macron to pass from words to action and tomorrow morning, welcome the 9,000 France promised to welcome as a sign of concrete generosity and not just words," Salvini said.
Macron on Tuesday blasted what he called Italy's cynicism and irresponsibility in turning away the Aquarius, with his office saying that France doesn't want to "start a precedent" that would allow some European countries to breach international laws and rely on other EU member states to take in migrants.
On Wednesday, France sought a more conciliatory tone, with the Foreign Ministry saying France was fully aware of the burden Italy has carried.
"None of the comments by French authorities have questioned this, nor the need for a close coordination between Europeans," a statement said.
Macron and new Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte were scheduled to meet in Paris on Friday, but the Italian news agency ANSA said Wednesday that the meeting might be postponed because the conditions weren't right.
On Wednesday, Italian Finance Minister Giovanni Tria canceled a planned meeting with his counterpart, Bruno Le Maire.
Neither office gave a reason, but earlier the Italian Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the French ambassador to complain that the French comments about the Aquarius were "unacceptable" and were compromising their diplomatic relations.
It added that Italy was waiting for France to take action to "heal the situation that has been created."
Italy for years has complained that it has been left largely alone to manage Europe's migrant crisis, but the new government says its tactics have finally gotten the point across.
"I think we've never been so central and so heard as we have been over the last hours," Salvini told senators, adding that he had heard from sympathetic officials in Germany and elsewhere applauding his stance.
Austria's conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who gained the post in December in a coalition with the anti-migration Freedom Party, on Wednesday proposed an "axis of the willing" with Italy, Austria and Germany in an attempt to tackle illegal immigration.
Salvini has accused European aid groups of essentially operating taxi services for Libya-based human traffickers, and he has said Italy will now refuse rescue ships' entry.
Italian maritime vessels, however, are still arriving with migrants aboard. On Wednesday, an Italian coast guard vessel docked in Catania, Sicily, carrying 932 migrants.
Still at sea were 40 migrants rescued by the U.S. Navy vessel Trenton, which was in the Mediterranean for what the U.S. 6th Fleet said were routine operations. The rescue was first reported by the German migrant aid group Sea Watch, which said 12 bodies had also been recovered during the operation.
U.S. officials didn't respond to requests for information about where the migrants would go, saying only that they were being provided with food, water and medical care.
Information for this article was contributed by Trisha Thomas and Lorne Cook of The Associated Press.
A Section on 06/14/2018